Shadowdrive
by Pyrovile
Summary: Enemies from the shadows are upsetting the natural balance of the universe. The only force that can stop them is the last Time lord and his new friend. Post series 4. No slash.
1. Voice Fragments

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who. If I did, I'd be a millionaire. Also, I'd have my own TARDIS.

Synopsis: - Enemies from the shadows are upsetting the natural balance of the universe. The only force that can stop them is the last Time lord and his new friend.

Darkness against the Light.

Prologue – Voice fragments

_Get up… Go to uni… Have lunch… Go to the library… Go home… The odd party… Go to bed… Do the same thing again the next day._

Aaron Black had to face the inevitable. He had fallen into a monotonous routine. There was no variation, no excitement. No change. This was probably a small indication of why he was standing around Roald Dahl Plass, watching a no – name band belting out power ballads with all the grace and subtlety of a constipated elephant.

"_It's a change," _he thought_. "Not a very good one, but it's a change."_

He was trying to like it. He was making every effort. This was supposed to be one of the reasons he had chosen Cardiff in the first place, along with the whole "independence" thing, and the chance to meet new people. That and the stories… oh yes, the stories.

During the past few years, Cardiff seemed to be making a name for itself. That earthquake a few years ago, those Cybermen things (even though they were everywhere), and all those sewer infestations. Of course the government tried to deny it. Kept on going on about terrorists and hallucinogens in the water supply. It was bloody obvious that it was all a cover up. Did they think that anyone would believe that? Well… probably otherwise they would have come up with a better story.

Then there was Torchwood. The worst kept secret of South Wales. Did they really think that driving round in a big black SUV with TORCHWOOD printed upon it made them inconspicuous? Their leader was such a bloody poser as well. It wasn't that Aaron didn't like Torchwood (He thought the Japanese woman on the team was cute.), it was just the fact that everything got covered up so neatly.

Aaron felt cheated. He wanted to see a bit of the excitement for himself but hadn't had any luck yet. It was like as soon as he came along; all the aliens seemed to bugger off somewhere else. Probably to Abergavenny. Typical!

It was then that Aaron heard the voices. One of them sounded oddly familiar.

"_WARNING! WARNING! HULL INFRASTRUCTURE UNSTABLE! DISINTEGRATION IMMINENT! ALL CREW MEMBERS ARE TO EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY1"_

"_Commander! Report!"_

"_They've breeched the archives! Possessed most of the crew! The deadlock seal should slow 'em down, but I don't know for how long!"_

"_BOOM!"_

"_Damn! So much for the deadlock"_

"_Commander! What the hell is going on?"_

"_Doyle! They're krkrkkckckkccchhhh closing in! Get out of krrkrkrkkkchchhch here!"_

"_But…"_

"_Dammit Doyle! That's krrkrrkrhchchccchc an order!"_

"… _Yes Commander."_

"_krrrkrchcchchch Get to krrkrchch escape pod! Oh and Doyle."_

"_Commander?"_

"_Take care kcrhkrchkkrch of the battle plans."_

"_Roger that Commander!"_

"_krrrrrhcrhhcrchchhhh"_

"_Commander?"_

"_krrrkrchhcchh"_

"_Anyone?"_

Silence.

Aaron snapped back to reality. _"What was all that about?"_ he thought. He was known for being a bit of daydreamer, but this was different. The whole scenario seemed so real. So vivid. It probably wasn't so much the dialogue that disturbed him though. What disturbed him was the voice that he recognised. The one that seemed to be known as Doyle. He knew where he heard the voice. It was his own!

"_Aaron Black, I think you need a holiday!_" he thought to himself!

--

In the disintegrating carcass of a transport craft thousands of light years away from earth, Doyle headed for the escape pods. He stopped by the entrance to the medi –bay to catch his breath. He quickly surveyed the area for survivors.

There was nobody.

He was alone.

Then the voice emerged.

"_What was all that about?" _"_Aaron Black, I think you need a holiday!_"

The topic didn't make much sense to Doyle. Another thing didn't make sense to him. It was his voice! It was his voice but it also sounded so foreign to him. Come to think of it, who was Aaron Black? It wasn't important. He remembered his prerogative. Protect the plans at all costs. He couldn't afford a mistake. The invaders had gone through a lot of trouble to protect the plans. They had suffered many casualties. He just hoped it was worth it. The fate of a world rested in his hands.

--

The central column of the TARDIS groaned and wheezed with the characteristic sound of an asthmatic trumpeter. Walking around the focal point of his ship, the Doctor flicked a couple of switches and sighed heavily. For that moment, he really did look 903 years old.

He was on his own again.

Donna had decided to return to earth and "take another walk in the dust" as she worded it so long ago. Sarah Jane had her own life. Jack had Torchwood Three to take care of. Martha was in UNIT, thanks to his "reference". It was the least he could've done for her. Reflecting upon that, he realised that he hadn't been the most hospitable towards her. Always pushing Rose in her face.

Oh yes, Rose. Someone that helped to pull him out of his depression following the Time War. She was gone and she was never coming back. Why was he in such a state of denial about that? He had to move on.

"_When did I get this morose?"_ he pondered. _"Oh I don't know, probably when you become the last member of your race… Okay, last __**sane**__ member of your race_!" he quickly amended as he remembered the Master. A truly mad rival. A genius, but definitely mad. Madder than a box of bipolar snakes.

The effect of the Time war seemed to have weighed heavily upon him. Gallifrey had been annihilated. The Time Lords were gone. Romana, Drax, Cho- je. He even missed the Rani!

"_Okay, that's disturbing even for me!"_

The Doctor was soon broken out of his thoughts by a blinding light forming in the TARDIS. This was accompanied by a gentle ringing of chimes, and large object materialising by the column. The light was starting to die down. The Doctor looked at the object that had mysteriously appeared and was immediately dumbstruck by the site.

It was a chair. A large wicker chair.

"_What?" _spluttered the Doctor. "_What??_"

It wasn't actually the presence of the chair that forced him to say what had seemed to become a catchphrase of his (along with "_Alonsy" _and_ "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry)_. It was the person who seemed to occupy the chair. A man in white with a white hat and suit. Someone whom the Doctor was amazed to see.

"_It has been a long time my friend." _Said the White Guardian with a small smirk on his face.

The Doctor was bursting with possible questions to ask. However his present inability to construct a coherent sentence belied that fact. As a result he just said what he'd said twice before.

"_What??"_

"_I see that you have lost none of your eloquence Doctor," _The White Guardian joked. "_I have come to see you regarding a small matter."_

**To all those who started to read the Axis Chronicles, let me explain. I've decided to scrap that story arc. It was ok to begin with, but it was proving too difficult to carry on from because I wanted to make this like a proper series. I'm just glad I decided now as opposed to near the end. The characters will remain the same, but the storyline will be different. Sorry to everyone who started reading. On the bright side, y'all got a brand new story to look forward to. Bye for now.**


	2. A familiar face

Disclaimer: - I don't own Doctor Who. It's my first story so please be nice.

**Chapter 1 – A familiar face.**

The Doctor was bursting with possible questions to ask. However his present inability to construct a coherent sentence belied that fact. As a result he just said what he'd said twice before.

"_What??"_

"_I see that you have lost none of your eloquence Doctor," _The White Guardian joked. "_I have come to see a small matter."_

"_If you wanted to visit, all you had to do was knock."_

"_I felt that my entrance would lend a bit more magnitude to the situation."_

"_What situation?" _asked the Doctor?

The Guardian looked at him with a twinkle in his eye. _"There is a force that is threatening the balance of the Universe."_

The Doctor's brow furrowed. "_This isn't about the key to time again is it? Because…"_

The White Guardian shook his head. "_No Doctor, this is more problematic. I thought that you would volunteer." _He knew the Doctor would when he knew the circumstances.

The Doctor was starting to get a bit frustrated. The White Guardian was being annoyingly cryptic. Truthfully, he was glad that it wasn't the key to time again. That quest felt like it had been more trouble than it was worth. A big intergalactic treasure hunt. These quests all seemed to follow the same pattern. Find a section of what you were looking for and it would point you to the next bit whilst simultaneously defending yourself against some loony trying to spoil everyone's plans. The key to Time, the _Infinite. _All the same.Just one big treasure hunt. "_What is this about?"_ he asked, somewhat dreading the answer.

"_Something I think that you would be interested in," _the Guardian replied_. "A warning!"_

The Doctor was suddenly paying full attention to the White Guardian's words. If the White Guardian takes the trouble to send you a message, it was hardly going to be something trivial. As he was immersed in his thoughts, the lights in the TARDIS dimmed and a blue hologram matrix emanated around the room. Planets, suns, moons all rotating in the sanctity of one room.

"_The Universe," _the White Guardian explained_. "It's such a beautiful place, but it's also very fragile. Over the course of time and space, the balance has been disrupted. Now, I fear it's happening again."_

The hologram reconfigured itself. As it did, numerous planets in the matrix were enveloped within a golden haze.

"_Are those energy spikes?"_ the Doctor asked?

"_Temporal energy spikes," _the guardian replied. _"In numerous time zones and many planets, they augur terrible things to come. For example, here." _He pointed at a rather large planet_._

The Doctor put on his glasses and squinted at the planet.

"_Cranon Prime, Morpok system, 5837_," he read out.

"_And here."_

"_Engh'gha, Niassha Devastation, 406,771."_

"_And here."_

" _Salieri's World, Magromax /ΖΨΚ4, 12,010."_

"_It's also worth noting how often Earth is affected. I know how fond you are of that planet. It is one of the reasons that I thought that you would accept this quest."_

"_What was the other reason?"_ the Doctor asked.

"_The Black Guardian. He is furious at being thwarted by you and would revel in your defeat. He has shamed the Guardian council. He no longer represents the laws of chaos and entropy. He now only driven by rage and the desire to see you dead."_

"_I tend to have that effect with a lot of people," _the Doctor retorted.

"_I feel that you are probably the only being that can stop him. Anyway, back to the matter at hand. Will you take this quest?"_

The Doctor thought about it for a minute. He could ignore it and the White Guardian could find someone else. However, he couldn't risk the damage caused by these spikes. It also was not in his nature to ignore those who needed help. On top of that, he hadn't been doing much after the confrontation with Davros. He'd do it. The Doctor nodded.

"_Excellent," _the White Guardian beamed. _"You'll need this."_

He threw a small object toward the Doctor. The Doctor caught it and examined the object. It was a silver orb divided into slivers. "_A biodata module!_" he thought. .

"_The module is compatible with your TARDIS."_ The Guardian explained. "_It will help you locate the energy spikes."_

"_Some things never change" _thought the Doctor. "_Ermm, you're not providing me with another companion are you?"_

The Guardian chuckled. _"No Doctor, I think you'll find someone to help you with this." _

As the White Guardian started to fade away, the Doctor, having processed all this information decided to ask him one of the more important questions he had meant to ask sooner. "_Out of interest_," he asked "_Where did you get that chair?"_

"_If you become a guardian, then you'll be entitled to one."_ The figure vanished, leaving his laughter echoing around the TARDIS.

The Doctor looked at the biodata molecule in his hand.

"_Well, no time like the present… errr past… or is it future? Anyway, Alonsy!_"

The Doctor looked at the biodata module and inserted it into a small alcove in the TARDIS central column. The little ball immediately started glowing. A small beam of blue light shot from the top, projecting an image of the large planet he had seen a few minutes ago. The hologram dissipated and was replaced by reams of data and binary code. The Doctor checked the monitor. Apparently, the TARDIS had picked up on something. Under masses of ones and zeroes, he could make out the more salient details.

010101010011**Energy reading found **01011101010

0110** Location – Morpok System **01010110111001

1100** Unidentified craft orbiting Cranon Prime **10

101100000111010001** Mauve Alert **0001011010110

"_Talk about being thrown in at the deep end,"_ the Doctor thought. The Morpok system was an extremely dangerous sector of the galaxy. A deprived system of drug smuggling, gun runners and more crime syndicates then you could shake a helmic regulator at. In short, not the best place for a holiday.

"_Luckily I won't actually have to land on Cranon Prime," _the Doctor mumbled to himself. The readout stated that there was an unidentified craft above this particular planet. Hopefully the Axis host would be there. The Doctor activated the vortex loop on the TARDIS column and the police box shot through the time/ space continuum with the grace of a Dalek being pushed down a flight of stairs.

One hand on the vortex loop, one hand on the retro stabiliser and his right foot trying to activate the quantum transducer on the other side of the column, the Doctor quickly checked the monitor again. He was there. Hovering above the surface of Cranon Prime. The Hub of the Morpok system. Its once verdant terrain now poisoned with thick plumes of acrid smog. The once blue waters were now coloured a bile yellow. That combined with the pinpricks of light through the pollution created a disgusting image. Thousands of years of neglect can do that to a planet.

The Doctor rushed to the scanner, which was emitting a piercing shriek. The mauve alert! It had to be the craft. Quickly hacking in the mainframe, the scanner displayed the necessary information.

**SS Malachite**

**Ident code – 681501742/B/434**

**Established – Gal/Year - 5837**

**Designation – Transport ship, B class**

**Destination – Aurelia, Halon cluster, Morpok system.**

An image of a dilapidated transport craft appeared on the screen. Above it an even bigger craft was displayed. It looked like a giant boomerang. A black beam shot from this craft and engulfed the Malachite…

The Doctor looked at the scanner. Judging from the state of the ship, the attack had been quite recent. He further checked the data.

**Mission – Classified**

**Status – All extraneous power sources offline. Infrastructure unstable. Disintegration imminent.**

**Survivors – One**

"_One survivor?" _There wasn't any other explanation. A bio reading seemed to be emanating from this wreck.

"_ALERT! BIO READINGS DECREASING!"_

"_Was__ coming from the wreck,"_ The Doctor amended. He quickly flicked a couple of switches to get a trace on the source of the readings. He managed to locate the source in the form of 

an escape pod. A tiny little pod that was heading away from the Malachite and towards that rift storm.

Rift Storm? Where the hell had that appeared from?

Slightly more bothered about where the pod was heading, the Doctor slammed his palm on the retro stabiliser, taking the TARDIS out of its orbit around Cranon Prime and towards the escape pod.

"_C'mon old girl!"_ he coaxed. _"Don't fail me now eh?"_

The TARDIS shuddered and groaned, spinning towards the pod. Nearer and nearer. Unfortunately, that kind of described the trajectory of both objects towards the rift storm.

"_No! No! No! No! No! No! Don't do this to me old girl" _pleaded the Doctoras he followed the pod into the swirling vortex. Honestly, the rift wasn't that bad. It was trying to track something that could easily switch time streams that worried him. He was thrown out of his thoughts when a large jolt knocked him to the ground. He assumed that it was just temporal turbulence. He could worry about that later. The assumption would cost him.

--

"_Deactivate cloaking device!"_

Back around the carcass of the SS Malachite, The boomerang shaped ship materialised into view.

Upon the deck, several observers were at their stations, analysing the anomaly that had appeared from nowhere. To say that it was baffling was an understatement.

"_Report!" _The voice was no louder than a whisper, yet it somehow filled the room.

"_No life forms aboard the Malachite, Commander."_

"_And the anomaly?"_

"_We saw two vessels enter it Commander. One was an escape pod but the other was an unusual craft."_

"_Elaborate!"_

"_It was a large blue box."_

"…"

"_Does that mean anything to you Commander?"_

"_A fragment of our past. Did you plant the homing device?"_

"_We are sure that it attached to one of the vessels Commander. It appears the blue box was following the pod. We find the box, we find the survivor."_

"_Excellent!" _whispered the commander_. "Seek, Intercept and Destroy!"_

"_You heard the commander!" roared the subordinate "Follow at will!"_

"_How is the transducer getting along."_

"_The ramjet transducer is almost complete. It should be ready within the hour."_

The Commander retreated back to the shadows of the deck. _"So it begins…"_ he mused. "_We shall be victorious. No- one will oppose us. The Galaxy shall soon realise the true might of the Necrofears!_

_**Please R&R.**_


	3. Down to Earth with a bump

Disclaimer- I don't own Doctor Who

**Chapter 2 – Down to Earth with a bump!**

It was a nice place. It was a peaceful place. It was the perfect place to come and contemplate your thoughts. At this point in time, Aaron had a bit to think about. Little did he know that in a few minutes, all that would be left of his thinking spot would be two smouldering craters.

He had decided to come to the Cardiff outskirts to relax. It was the area where people had claimed to have seen some kind of demon a year or so ago. It was really odd. Some people believed it, some didn't, and some just couldn't remember it. Aaron supposed that was the reason that no one else came here. He had tried to talk his friends into coming here but he got the same reply.

"_No one wants to go to a demon's grave."_

Aaron leant back and stared up at the sky. It had been a few days since the voice in his head. He probably would have ignored it. That is until more of them haunted his mind. Commands being issued that felt like a whisper and a roar at the same time, computers totally devoid of emotion and for some reason, someone with a cockney accent.

"_Talk about being thrown in at the deep end,"_

"_No! No! No! No! No! No! Don't do this to me old girl"_

"_ALERT! BIO READINGS DECREASING!"_

"_A fragment of our past."_

"_The Galaxy shall soon realise the true might of the Necrofears!"_

They couldn't be a coincidence.

_Krhrhchrkrhkcrkrkcrhkrckhrckhkrhkchkhc_

Aaron was thrown out of his thoughts by a deafening noise. This was accompanied by a flash of gold light.

"_What the hell?"_

The next thing that Aaron noticed was two unusual objects heading towards the Earth. Two out of control objects that appeared to have no conception of a crash procedure. A large bronze sphere and a blue box. Definitely not your average flotsam and jetsam. Aaron cautiously made his towards the two shapes. It was only a matter of time before people came to investigate. Probably that lot from Torchwood. Aaron chuckled to himself.

For the second time in an hour Aaron was thrown out of thoughts when the metallic sphere split down the centre. As Aaron peered closer at the strange craft, a hand gripped the door. This was followed by a very familiar figure. At this point, any attempt of coherent thought rapidly vacated Aaron's brain. He was dumbstruck. It just didn't make any sense. The person in front of him, who was now trying to adjust himself to his new environment could not have been more recognizable.

"_Bloody landing!" _the double muttered, obviously not aware of anyone in the vicinity.

Even the voice was the same! Granted the hair was slightly shorter then his and he was wearing a uniform that he personally would not have been seen dead in, Aaron couldn't deny the presence of the man who was now staring at him…

It was him!

The look on his doppelganger's face was a mixture of confusion, disbelief and incredulity. It looked like he was trying to construct a suitable response to the situation. The only thing was that if this guy was anything like Aaron, the reaction would probably be the same.

"_What?"_ spluttered Aaron.

"_What??" _his double responded in kind.

"_What??"_

"_Well,"_ the double said _"I think we've established the overall state of shock , now where am I? Come to think of it, who the hell are you?"_

"_I could ask the same thing!"_

As the two men exchanged names, they failed to notice that someone or something was watching them. Something in the shadows.

"_You didn't answer my other question."_ Doyle stated. _"What is this place? It doesn't look like anywhere in the Morpok system."_

"_Morpok? This is Earth."_

"_Where's that?"_

Aaron looked at his double with a dubious expression. Was he being serious? The blank look on Doyle's face seemed to confirm that statement.

"_You don't know? Never heard of Earth? Solar System? The Milky Way?" _

"_Nope. Is this some form of outer colony?"_

"_No…" _Aaron trailed off, not knowing how to continue. The conversation was going nowhere. _"Let's try an easier question, what year do you think this is?_

"_5837," _Doyle replied confidently. His look-alike shook his head. "Isn't it?"

"_You're off by a bit," Aaron said. "It's 2009, nearly three thousand years in your past."_

Three thousand years? The prospect was shocking to Doyle. If his double had said something along the lines of three months, he would have thought "_Wow! That's a long time." _Three thousand years? It just sounded… stupid! He was stuck on a planet he had never heard of, in a system he had never heard of, nearly three millennia before he would be born, talking to a look- alike who judging from his clothes was quite possibly colour blind.

"_While we're on the subject,"_ Aaron said, "_How exactly_ _did you get here? Why do you look like me? And what's that blue box?"_

Doyle turned around, noticing the other ship. He turned back to Aaron and shrugged. "_Never seen anything like it before. Looks quite sturdy, but it's a bit pokey for my liking."_

"_Pokey? Pokey? Cheeky beggar! That's my home you're talking about." _A new voice emanated from the box. A few seconds later, the doors burst open and a young man 

stumbled unceremoniously out of the box. He brushed the dirt off his trench coat and straightened his tie in order to regain a bit of dignity. He looked around and his face fell.

"_Oh, not Cardiff again!" _he exclaimed to himself. _" Always London or Cardiff! Why not Ireland for a change? Or Australia? Haven't been to Australia for a while…" _His rant was cut short when he noticed the two beings in front of him.

"_Oh… Hello… I'm the Doctor, and you are?"_

"_Aaron, Aaron Black_," the figure on the left replied. _"I'm a biology student at the uni."_

"_Glad to meet you Aaron Black," _the Doctor said, shaking Aaron's hand. He glanced at the figure to his right, who at present was examining the TARDIS. _"Who's your friend?" _he asked?

The figure turned around and gave the Doctor a salute. "_Sub lieutenant Conrad Doyle of the Aurelian Resistance, ID code 000/theta 253 beta…_"

"_Okay Okay, less of the saluting," _the Doctor said, dismissing Doyle's official address. "_Let's just clear a few things out shall we?"_

Aaron started first, telling them how he had been hearing voices the past few days and how he saw the two ships crash. Then, the Doctor told them how he had been tracing a temporal spike in the Morpok system and followed the space time trail of the escape pod as it travelled through the rift storm. Then it was Doyle's turn. As they took stock of the current situation, all three had failed to neglect the thing in the shadows slowly making its way towards them.

"… _I then stumbled out the pod and noticed this guy here. Doctor, why doe he look exactly like me?"_

"_Well… in most cases like this, it's a form of spatial genetic multiplicity," _the Doctor replied, scanning Aaron with the sonic screwdriver. He did the same with Doyle, but frowned at the results. "_No correlation… in this case, I think it's just a coincidence. Anyway, what is it that you were trying to avoid Doyle? What attacked the Malachite?"_

Doyle's expression darkened. _"Creatures that hide in the shadows, beings of pure stealth that can infiltrate anywhere and thrive on the darkness."_

A looked of fear flashed across the Doctor's face. _"That sounds disturbingly familiar."_

"_What does?"_

"_Every race in the galaxy has an irrational fear of the dark, only it isn't irrational. It's Vashta Nerada!"_

"_What?"_

"_Creatures that attack in swarms. Hiding in the darkness."_

Doyle pondered this for a moment. "_I must admit, I've never heard the name that you describe them by."_

The Doctor was incredulous_. "You've never heard of the Vashta Nerada? The piranhas of the night? The keepers of the library?_

"_Library? These things inhabit the Morpok system. They had taken over the planet Valksythe, possessing the inhabitants. Everyone now refers to the planet as Dowwdor Shal, the Shadow world."_

"_Ummm… Doctor?" _Aaron asked with a rather puzzled expression.

"_Yeah?"_

"_Sorry to interrupt, but these Vashta things you're talking about, how do they attack?"_

"_They latch onto a person's shadow. Why?"_

"_The sun is directly above us."_

It was now the Doctor's turn to look confused_. "And?"_

"_There should only be a patch of shadow below us."_

The Doctor looked down. Indeed, there was a small patch of shadow directly below him. _"So what's the problem."_

"_How come Doppelganger Doyle over there has a five o' clock shadow?"_

**Please R & R.**


	4. Necrosis

Disclaimer :- I don't own Doctor Who

Chapter 3 – Necrosis

"_How come Doppelganger Doyle over there has a five o' clock shadow?"_

The Doctor spun round and saw the problem. Doyle did indeed have a large shadow which, based upon the present angle of the sun was far too large to be natural. Something had latched onto him. Something lurking from within the shadows.

"I'm sorry," he exclaimed. "I'm so sorry, but I think you had a stowaway in the escape pod." He scanned the shadow with the sonic screwdriver. "There's very little I can do."

"So that's the end for me!" said Doyle bitterly. I've seen what they do and it's far from pleasant!"

"Personally, I'm surprised that it hasn't killed you already," replied the Doctor. "They can strip the flesh from a person in seconds."

"That's never happened before," said Doyle, sounding puzzled.

"Well, let's hope they don't make an exception with you," retorted the Doctor. "I'll be back in a sec."

He headed back to Aaron, who was looking at the escape pod in awe.

"So what's happening Doctor?" asked Aaron.

"Aaron," the Doctor said. "Do you trust me?"

"Why?"

"If you choose to, then forget about this. Go home, have a normal life and forget about…"

His words were drowned out by a heart wrenching scream. Both the Doctor and Aaron turned round to see Doyle writhing and convulsing in pain.

"_This isn't how it happens'"_ thought the Doctor amidst the screams of agony. "_This is not typical Vashta Nerada behaviour."_

Then the screams stopped.

Doyle was still there, but he looked different. The clothes that he was wearing were now considerably darker. His skin was paler with black veins coursing through his arms. Then there were the eyes. Pure black. No iris, no sense of colour. Just soulless black voids. A twisted grin split across his face, revealing considerably sharp fangs.

"I expected something a bit more profound for his last words," hissed the figure that, until recently had been Conrad Doyle. The voice was harsh, yet soft at the same time. Like a whisper, but nowhere near as comforting. "Instead I get childish screams."

"You killed him!" shouted the Doctor. "You're wearing the skin of a dead man! How have the Vashta Nerada sunk to such despicable habits?

The figure laughed again. "We have evolved beyond the capabilities of the primitive Vashta Nerada. We discarded our ability to strip flesh from the bone. The body as a whole is of more use to us."

"So you possess living beings and turn them into the walking dead?" The Doctor sarcastically clapped three times. "Despicable!"

"It's more than they deserve!" shrieked the creature. "You broke your promise Time Lord."

The Doctor frowned. "What promise?"

"Remember the Library? So many years ago. You promised us the library in return for those people. A few years later, time agents investigated our forest. The library was torched."

"I had nothing to do with that."

"We escaped with our lives," the creature continued, ignoring the Doctor. "Travelling for centuries through space. Mutated through cosmic radiation. Making us stronger, faster, smarter. We looked you up Doctor and your title is true. You really are the destroyer of worlds!" The figure shouted, pointing an accusatory finger towards the Time Lord.

"What are you?" shouted the Doctor.

The figure continued grinning like a maniac. "We are what we always have been and yet we are so much more. The age of the Vashta Nerada is ending. With its retreat into the shadows, brings the beginning of our era." Dark energies emanated from his hands as he adopted a fighting pose. "We…" it hissed "are the Necrofears."

The figure lunged toward the Doctor, uttering a harsh battle cry. The Doctor dove to one side, narrowly missing a roundhouse punch. Unfortunately a second punch caught him off guard, knocking him to the ground and sending the sonic screwdriver flying a considerable distance away. The Necrofear stood over him, its right arm transforming into a lethal blade.

"It will give me a great sense of pleasure in killing you Doctor," the Necrofear hissed maniacally. "Killing you over and over again will greatly appease my primitive ancestors."

The Doctor scrabbled away in an attempt to retrieve his sonic screwdriver. The Necrofear lifted his boot and stomped on the Time Lord's wrist.

"Not this time!" it taunted, lifting the blade to make the final blow. "Any last words?"

"Just seven," the Doctor replied, noticing something in the corner of his eye. "Rule one of combat, watch your back."

The Necrofear began to turn around, but was too slow to prevent the consequences. Said consequence was a rather large rock that Aaron was about to use to strike its skull.

Contact never came.

At the crucial moment, the Necrofears entire head dissipated into a mist –like vapour and Aaron's hand, still holding the rock, passed through thin air. The mist then began to reconstitute itself. Reforming itself back into the head of the Necrofear. It gave another fanged grin.

"Rule two of combat," it retorted, turning to face Aaron. "Don't give away your strategy to the enemy!" It grabbed the young man by his throat, slowly choking the life out of him. Aaron tried to cry for help but the ever increasing pressure that was being forced upon his trachea resulted in a garbled mess. The Necrofear briefly paused, intending to savour its impending victory.

"What was that?" it mocked. "I didn't quite catch that."

"What part of watch your back didn't you understand the first time?" asked Aaron in a rather sarcastic tone. The Necrofear glanced behind him, only to come face to face with the Doctor.

"I should have killed when I had the chance!" it hissed.

"Without a shadow of a doubt," responded the Doctor as he pointed the sonic screwdriver at the creature's forehead. As a blue emanated from the screwdriver, the Necrofear recoiled in pain, releasing Aaron from its grip. He looked up to see the Time Lord offering him a hand up.

"I thought I told you not to get involved," said the Doctor sternly.

"I think I kinda got involved when I came across another me in what seems to be an extraterrestrial version of the Prince and the Pauper," replied Aaron as he looked at the convulsing alien. "What did you do to it?"

"Enhanced the electrical impulses in its brain. Overactive synaptic pathway, causing a minor neural spasm. It'll recover though. Not much different to a typical hangover." Sure enough, the Necrofear was starting to recover. Clutching its head and moaning. "Anyway," he continued, "we can finish this lecture in the TARDIS."

"The blue box? It's tiny!"

"Oh, just shift!"The Doctor didn't have time to argue. As the Necrofear got to its feet, it noticed the two figures running towards the blue box. Like its head before, the blade arm dissipated into mist and reconfigured itself into an arm with lethal black claws. Taking careful aim at the box, the claws projected like bullets, screeching towards their destination. Three of the shadow claws impaled themselves in the wooden door. The other claw shot threw the window just as the Doctor was closing the door. Within a few seconds the box dematerialised, accompanied by a characteristic wheezing noise. The Necrofear shrieked with rage as his enemies escaped his clutches. However, it was not a total loss. He had the body of the soldier that escaped the Malachite. With any luck, he still had the plans somewhere. This was just a minor setback.

"Shadow scout, are you receiving me?"

The Necrofear focused itself. For now, it would have to adapt to using a humanoid mind.

"Yes Shadow commander. I have located the Malachite survivor. He has been assimilated, and I am sure he still carries the plans."

"Excellent. What of the time capsule? Was it him?"

"Indeed Shadow commander. The Doctor has returned. It is unlikely that he will show lenience."

"Our employer expects much of us and will not tolerate failure. We will traverse the anomaly. Try to hinder the Doctor's progress. Assimilate any inhabitants you require. The Necrofears will have their revenge."

Please R&R


	5. Embrace the Darkness!

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

Chapter 4 – Embrace the Darkness!

The Doctor slammed the door of TARDIS, just narrowly avoiding the shadow claw that smashed through the window.

"Sorry about that old girl," he whispered. "I should've gone with double glazed windows but no, you had to be a cheapskate and get single panes." He turned away from the broken glass and ran to the central column to activate the dematerialisation circuit. He looked up to see Aaron standing by the column, staring at the ship's interior with amazement.

"Okay," the Doctor said, a smile forming at the prospect of having to hear the predictable response. "Go on and say it, you know you want to."

Aaron looked away from the central column. "All right then, why have you got a hat stand in here?"

"Well, the interior of the ship exists within a different dimension to the exterior and… what?" That had thrown the Doctor for a loop. Most companions had stated the obvious, that the TARDIS was "bigger on the inside" and he had prepared a whole speech for it. Aaron's observation was kind of out of the blue.

"It's just that you've got this hat stand by the door…" he started, pointing to the aforementioned article "… and it looks a bit out of place."

The Doctor laughed. "You're the first person to mention that. What drew your attention to the hat stand? Why not… I dunno, a gigantic room inside a little blue box?"

"Why point out the obvious?" Aaron replied.

"Sometimes the obvious can be the most important factor," The Doctor countered. "Depends on your perspective." The Doctor looked at Aaron. He looked like the sort of person who would stick out of a crowd like a sore thumb. Not so much his appearance, more of the fact that what he was wearing looked like a parrot had exploded. It was like this guy hadn't been told that the eighties were over. Any colour that could be named, and a few that couldn't, took up some form of residence on his outfit. What confused the Doctor more was that this person seemed somewhat familiar. Almost as if they had met before. The problem was that he couldn't remember. Pushing the thought to the back of his mind, he flicked a few switches on the console.

"For example to you, your fashion sense is obvious. To others, people would think you're colour blind," the Doctor said, trying not to laugh.

"Bloody cheek!"

"But then again, I used to dress like that so I really can't point fingers can I?" the Doctor said, more to himself than Aaron as he remembered his sixth incarnation. "Anyway, full introduction. I am the Doctor." He gave a cheesy smile and a wave to emphasise the point. "Hello. Anyway, I am a time lord and this is my TARDIS, which stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space."

"You're telling me that this box can go anywhere…"

"…and anywhen, yep!" the Doctor finished with a proud grin on his face.

"Could you take me home then?" Aaron asked.

A look of confusion crossed over the Doctor's face. "I thought you said you wanted to help."

"I do, I've just got a thing or two to pick up that might be handy." Aaron thought for a second. "On top of that, that Necrofear thing won't be able to track us straight away."

"But…" the Doctor paused. It did make sense. The Necrofear had no experience of Earth and no discernable way of tracking them down. Accessing Doyle's surface memories wouldn't help either as he hadn't even known this planet existed. On top of that, the pod had been severely damaged on its entry into Earth's atmosphere. It was unlikely that it would be functional enough to track them down. "… That's actually a good idea. Not so much a retreat but a tactical withdrawal."

"Doctor," said Aaron. "What exactly was that thing and what happened to Doyle?"

The Doctor consulted the computer on the console. "From what I can make out, it is a mutated form of the Vashta Nerada that I was telling you about. They used to resemble shadows. Now they are shadows. Pure sentient darkness. They chose Doyle as a host, practically consuming him from within. Now he's just a puppet with the Necrofear pulling the strings."

"How exactly do they know you?" asked Aaron.

"I don't think that one knew me personally. He mentioned something about ancestors. Anyway, I made a deal with the Vashta Nerada a while back. Something must have happened and they think I've gone back on my word. After all, that Necrofear didn't seem too happy to see me."

"And you deal with all of this on a daily basis?" questioned Aaron.

"Pretty much," said the Doctor. "Unless you count last Thursday when I… Oh wait. Nope, I prevented the Quetravorgas from invading Calabos 3."

"Busy day then?" asked Aaron. He hadn't really understood what the Doctor was on about but he just decided to accept it.

"Y'know Aaron," the Doctor said. "You seem to be taking all of this pretty well. "

"Well… All the stuff that's happened in the last few years, it's kinda hard not to believe in life outside Earth. Beside, if this really was a hoax, the government would've come up with a more plausible explanation. Honestly, drugs in the water supply? I really don't see what "terrorists" would achieve by making us all see aliens every time we had a cup of tea or a shower."

The Doctor started sniggering as he consulted a monitor.

"Oh well, at the very worst, Torchwood can always help," Aaron stated. The Doctor decided that there was a time and a place to ask how this guy knew about the supposedly secret organisation and ran the sonic screwdriver over one of the monitors, trying to assimilate everything that had happened in the last hour.

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The Necrofear that had once been Conrad Doyle stepped out from the shadows. That was the advantage of being a creature of darkness. A simple bit of molecular reconstitution and you could get anywhere in a matter of minutes. Travelling through the shadows and the darkness. Emerging from behind a large building, the creature looked around in order to get its bearings. As the Necrofear surveyed its surroundings, it noticed a large sign displaying the location as Bae Caerdydd – Cardiff Bay. The words didn't mean much to the Necrofear but from what he could ascertain was that he had successfully travelled from that pathetic patch of wasteland outside the town to the nearest populated location. It had to plan its next strategy. He remembered the orders that the shadow commander had given him.

"_Try to hinder the Doctor's progress. Assimilate any inhabitants you require_."

It was the best plan it had at the moment. Most of the pod's guidance systems had been destroyed in the landing and the soldier he assimilated had no experiences of this planet. As a result, it was stranded on an unknown planet. At least until the reinforcements traverse the anomaly. The best thing that the Necrofear could do would be to possess others and delegate the task at hand.

The Necrofear looked at its reflection in the window of the building. If it kept a low profile, it could just about pass for human. The only problem was its eyes. Perhaps it was the Necrofear's vanity or maybe it was to prevent drawing attention to itself, but it felt its first objective was to find something that would obscure its eyes. It moved out of the shadows towards a small building around the corner. The Necrofear looked through the window of the building at the contents inside.

Glasses.

Dark Glasses.

The Necrofear entered the building, looking at the selection of glasses.

"Can I help you sir?"

A saleswoman approached her potential "customer." The Necrofear glanced in her direction. She was young and looked fairly athletic. Definitely able to hold her own in a fight.

"Perhaps you can…" it mused. The Necrofear grabbed the woman's arm and looked directly into her eyes. He smirked as she gasped in horror. "You will be a great asset to me…" It glanced at her name tag. "… Nadine, I need to divide and conquer. Embrace the Darkness!"

As the Necrofear spoke these words, black shadowy tendrils emanated from its eyes to Nadine's eyes. Her screams of fear were quickly impeded. Within a few minutes, Nadine's appearance displayed similar characteristics to the Necrofear in front of her. It handed her a pair of shades.

"Protocol 1," it stated. "Assimilate anyone you need to."

"I obey" the female Necrofear replied blankly, putting on the shades before merging into the shadows.

"_Humans_," it thought as it walked out the building. "_Trapped like rats on a pathetic little planet_" He sniffed the air. "_Reeking of foetor and decay and…"_ He stopped and sniffed the air again. An unmistakable odour. A look of absolute fury crossed its face.

"Time Agent!" it snarled.

**Please R&R**


End file.
